Americans are turning up the volume on Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams and Beyoncé, but as they stream ever more of the artists’ songs and videos their reluctance to buy music is extending from CDs to digital downloads.
凯蒂·佩里、法瑞尔·威廉姆斯和碧昂斯在美国人民中广受欢迎,但随着这些歌手的音乐和视频大量以流媒体的方式出现,人们不再愿意花钱买音乐,数字音乐下载就此步上CD唱片的后尘。

Digital album sales dropped 11.6 per cent to 53.8m in the first half of the year, from 60.8m in the same period in 2013, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while sales of individual digital tracks sank 13 per cent to 593.6m from 682.2m.
据尼尔森音乐统计,上半年,数字唱片销量下降了11.6%至5380万张,而去年同期销量则达到了6080万张。数字单曲销量从6.822亿首下降至5.936亿首,降幅达13%。

Last year marked the first time digital downloads fell since Apple’s iTunes store launched in 2003, as streaming music services such as Spotify, Rdio and Pandora captured ears.
去年是苹果iTunes数字音乐商店自2003年上线以来首次遭遇下载量下降,而类似Spotify、Rdio 和Pandora的流媒体音乐服务开始俘获大众的耳朵。

In the first six months of 2014, combined audio and video streaming jumped 42 per cent to 70.3bn streams from 49.5bn last year.
2014年上半年,流媒体视频和音频的播放总量由去年的495亿次攀至703亿次,同比增长42%。

“Streaming continues to be an increasingly significant portion of the music industry,” said David Bakula of Nielsen Entertainment. He said the growth of streaming, coupled with a 40 per cent jump in sales of vinyl albums, “shows interest in buying and consuming music continues to be robust, with two very distinct segments of the industry expanding substantially.”
尼尔森娱乐公司的大卫·巴库拉称:“流媒体将在音乐行业占据越来越重要的位置。”他说流媒体音乐的增长以及塑胶唱片销量40%的增长表明了“大众购买及消费音乐的兴趣依然稳固,音乐行业这两种完全不同的领域将会持续扩张。”

Vinyl sales represent a small sliver of the industry, however, at 4m copies sold from January to June – just 3 per cent of all album sales.
塑胶唱片代表的只是音乐行业的一小部分,1月到6月之间,仅仅售出了400万张,只占专辑总销量的3%。

The acceleration in the shift to streaming is putting digital downloads on a downward trajectory approaching the double-digit annual declines in CD sales seen from 2007 to 2011.
流媒体音乐加速增长使得数字音乐下载量呈下降趋势,降幅达到两位数,接近2007到2011年CD唱片的年度降幅。

Total album sales – physical and digital – have dropped 14.9 per cent so far this year to 120.9m from 142m. CD sales were down 19.6 per cent to 62.9m after a more moderate 14.5 per cent decline in 2013.
到目前为止,今年的专辑销售总量——包括实体和数字的——下降了14.9%,从去年的1420万张减少为1209万张。CD唱片销量下降了19.6%至6290万张,而2013年下降幅度较小,为14.5%。

With streaming revenues still far lower than those generated by digital and CD sales, many in the industry are questioning – as they did during the rise of iTunes – whether artists and labels can make enough money from the new format to keep making new music.
由于流媒体音乐带来的收入远低于数字音乐下载和CD唱片,就像iTunes刚上线时一样,业内不少人开始质疑歌手和唱片公司是否能通过这种新形式挣到足够的钱来继续创作新歌。

The rise of digital subscription services such as Spotify and Beats, recently acquired by Apple for $3bn, offers some hope, however. The number of paying customers has ballooned to 28m last year from 8m in 2010, with subscription revenues reaching $1.11bn, and some of the largest technology and media companies are investing in the services.
不过,最近以30亿美元被苹果收购的数字音乐订阅服务公司Spotify和Beats,带来了一线生机。愿意付钱的用户从2010年的800万增长至去年的2800万,带来高达11.1亿美元的收入,一些大型技术和媒体公司也开始投资于这种订阅服务。

Google bought Songza, which allows users to make customised playlists, for a reported $39m this week. Last month, Amazon launched music streaming as a part of its Prime subscription bundle.
这周,谷歌据称以3900万美元收购了在线音乐服务提供商Songza,为用户提供订制乐单。上个月,亚马逊推出流媒体音乐服务,成为其Prime订阅服务中的一种。

The biggest selling album in the period – in physical and digital formats – was the soundtrack to Disney’s animated hit, Frozen, followed by a Beyoncé album launched last year through a heavily promoted exclusive deal with iTunes.
现下最畅销的专辑(包括实体和数字专辑形式)是迪士尼热门动画《冰雪奇缘》的原声大碟,紧随其后的是碧昂斯去年发行的专辑,该专辑和iTunes独家合作,宣传声势浩大。

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